What is a family?

When a person is born into this world, they are not alone. They are born into a family with a father, mother and even sisters and brothers. Families are unique groups of people. Although they are composed of very different people, these people share a bond that is more that just a sharing of genes. The family is a bonded group of individuals that are free to be unique and different without fear of being unloved. The Garcia family from the novel How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents is a perfect example on the concept of what a family is. Sandra, Carla, Yolanda, and Sofia are all different persons. Their parents are also very different from them. The actions of all these persons differentiate them from each other. Sometimes other people condemn their actions and behavior but not nearly as much by their parents.

Sandra has caused her parents migraines and countless sleepless nights. Her parents raised her the way they were raised. Much of the things that the Garcia girls do would send the father to his death. He has found out about many of the things that Sandra has done. For example when a girlfriend of hers got her to try Tampax and her mother found out, she nearly collapsed. There was also a time when her mother found a small bag of marijuana. That nearly killed her. They have been angry with each other but the special ties between them somehow make everything all right. After all the girls are all that he has including his wife.

Like Sandra, Sofia has done things that their parents might condemn and shun. She is the youngest and along with the other things that come along with being the youngest she is a little wet behind the ears. She doesn’t know any better and she even says that she likes to try new things. She has made so mad bad choices. She lacks common sense. She married a German chemist and her dad didn’t speak to her for a few days. On top of that she became pregnant with the man’s (whose name is Otto) baby. Her father wanted to kill her and disown her! As a result she has done many things that would put her parents to shame. They would want to hide their faces instead. However her parents pardon her. They would hate themselves if they didn’t they wouldn’t be able to live with themselves. They have really strong bonds that cannot be broken.

No matter where a person is or come from one thing is for sure, they must have come from a family. Their bonds are as strong as steel or platinum. So strong in fact that they would pardon even the most shameful thing. The Garcia family demonstrated to the reader that even though the persons were different and did different actions, they are all connected by a strong bond. It holds them together as a family. It can withstand even the heaviest weight and not strain and sever it.

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